By Lori Petrie, Diocese of Chicago (Province V)

It is the second week of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women’s 68th session (CSW68). Several of the members of the Presiding Bishop’s delegation are participating virtually now, so we are separate in distance, but not in spirit. Everyone here is working so hard from early morning to after dinner, and we all feel united by a sense of common purpose that makes us feel like sisters.

I’m starting to feel slightly like I know what I’m doing and can contribute to the effort, which is nice. I’m getting better at keeping up with what’s being discussed in fast-paced official meetings, and better at introducing myself and the delegation to people and networking. But I’m becoming more and more aware of all the things I don’t know how to do, especially in terms of the work I want to join in when I get home.

While I’ve been here, I’ve read in the news that my city, Chicago, will begin forcing migrants out of shelters once they’ve been there for 60 days. When people are forced out they will have to return to the city’s “landing zone” to sleep on buses and wait to be accepted to a shelter again. Here at the CSW68, our delegation’s focus is eliminating poverty by strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective. Thinking about thousands of people in my own city having no way to secure a home base from which to build a new life for themselves brings that focus into such sharp relief for me. It’s important for me to be at CSW68 learning and advocating at this global level, but what will I do when I’m home the other 50 weeks of the year? What can my church community do, who can I partner with and learn from, where do I put my time and my money in the quotidian daily life times? How is God calling me to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God—the God who pays special attention to the poor—where I am?

One way I am already being guided and resourced by the church is through the Diocese of Chicago’s One Book, One Diocese program. I read the selected book for this year, Poverty, By America, by Matthew Desmond (New York City: Crown Publishing Group, 2023, 9780593239919) in the first week of CSW68. It’s incredibly readable and it pairs very well with our focus on poverty this year from a US-specific lens, and I highly recommend it to anyone else who is also feeling moved in their spirit to seek out ways to partner with and for poor people in their communities.

I have a lot of questions and I hope this is the beginning of a great time of learning and discerning for me. Thanks again to everyone who has supported and sent me to CSW68 and to all who hold me and the delegation in your prayers. Peace and blessings, my siblings in Christ!

About the author: Lori Petrie, Diocese of Chicago (Province V) is originally a Kentuckian who currently sells, obsesses over, and reads far into the night books in Hyde Park, Chicago. She earned a degree in biblical exegesis from Wheaton College in Illinois, where her academic interests focused on gender and sexuality within the Bible and the modern church. She leads the young adults’ group at her parish church, Saint Paul and the Redeemer, in small group meetings and probably too many board game nights.